The myth that heavy weight training builds muscle mass is wrong. During heavy weight training, for safeguarding purpose, fast twitching muscles get activated. As we know as fast twitching muscles is on activation, muscles fatigueness will be achieved quickly. So, the rep range is minimal with heavy weight training. Heavy weight training is actually for strength building or power boosting. We have to do actually high endurance training to increase pure muscle mass. During light weight endurance training slow twitching muscles get activated for achieving high rep range and working out longer. During high endurance training glycogen stored in muscles slowly gets depleted but for a long time. So when you eat properly and rest well after high endurance training protein synthesis process in general is stimulated and is aided by getting muscles compensated or filled well with glycogen. While during heavy weight training glycogen stored in muscles is feebly depleted as fast twitching muscles will not allow you to accomplish high rep range or muscles fatigueness is achieved pretty quickly to safeguard your body.
When you lift heavy you are making high effort for pushing and pulling weight. This will not actually deplete your muscles glycogen but instead use more of your muscular strength or power. Actually your workout stops earlier due to muscles fatigueness than coming to the point of stored glycogen depletion.
So high endurance training brings you to the point of breaking your muscles cause you are continuously performing exercise from a long time and at a point your muscles cannot resist it and slowly and feebly your muscles breaks unanimously. In contrary, during heavy weight training you cannot reach to the point of breaking your muscles as you already have achieved muscles fatigueness.
So since muscles break slowly and gradually and with proper nutrition and lifestyle management you will achieve muscle hypertrophy with light weight high endurance training. But since muscles break negligibly during heavy weight training actually muscle hypertrophy is not achieved. Rather than, due to more effort being used to lift heavy weight you get binge eating. This will allow more fat accumulation and dirty bulking cause your muscles glycogen will add up randomly and as you eat much and rest properly with heavy weight training. On the other hand, with high endurance training you will put lean muscles mass as your muscles glycogen level needs to be compensated first before achieving muscle hypertrophy and you eat properly and rest well.
This is the reason why weight lifters or power lifters are bulky but don’t have pleasant body and bodybuilding and fitness athletes do have.
In my conclusion, we should not go too light or too heavy with weight training. If you go too light your muscles full toning and conditioning is already achieved earlier before your muscle growth process initiates. This will develop muscle plateau and you cannot gain muscles as your over muscles toning and conditioning is retarding your muscle growth and development. So it’s better to use medium weight during training so that fair amount of fast twitching muscles also get activated with plenty of activation of slow twitching muscles. This will allow you to gain muscles and gain strength and power to some extent. When you have fair strength or power and you are undergoing muscles development with high endurance training then only you can achieve your muscles right form, fullness, shape, symmetry, definition and cutting.
